Poor Veet. Most people just wax nowadays, right? The chemical hair-killing spray is resorting to low blows in its latest ads—telling women that if they’re not using Veet, they’re risking “dudeness.”
The “Don’t Risk Dudeness” ads go beyond the tone of “women’s body hair is gross, so get rid of it.” The idea here is that if you’re just shaving with a razor, your hair will grow back almost instantly and you’ll turn into a man—literally.
If you have armpit hair, don’t ever wear something that’ll expose it or raise your arm to get a taxi.
Even if you’re going somewhere to get primped, your legs must be in pristine condition.
I don’t know about you, but if I’m in the back of an ambulance with a neckbrace, the amount of hair on my body is the least of my concerns—as well as to the EMT attending to me.
And if you don’t shave before you wake up in the morning, you will repulse your significant other.
Naturally, many are outraged by Veet’s new ads.
YOU GUYS A MAN HAS ARRIVED TO LET US KNOW VEET DIDN’T MEAN ANY HARM. OH GOOD I’M GLAD THAT’S BEEN CLEARED UP
— Dorian, Bad Wolf (@thewildestsea) April 8, 2014
Clearly no women worked on this campaign RT @arb: the year is 2014 and this is a real thing soooo https://t.co/3g48TdX5aJ
— amanda brennan (@continuants) April 8, 2014
Risking dudeness? Nope, not at all #Veet pic.twitter.com/J6zwfbSrB9
— ☭ (@flowerexic) April 8, 2014
Veet makes a point that not waxing your legs leads to “dudeness”. So disgusted with this commercial. #NotBuyingIt pic.twitter.com/E2AIaCNMSa
— Kelly Marie (@Tall_soxx) April 8, 2014
“Risking dudeness” and having hair stubble on your body aren’t anything to be ashamed of. By Veet’s logic, men who get rid of their body hair lose their man junk and transform magically into prissy, dainty little girly-men. Never mind that plenty of women choose not to shave or that our species has been living with body hair (without fancy products to remove it) for thousands of years.
If there’s anything to be ashamed of, it’s all the shaming.
Update: Veet has pulled the ad campaign. The company’s marketing team wrote on Facebook:
Hi…this is the Veet marketing team in the US. We just wanted to let everyone know, we get it – we’re women too. This idea came from women who told us that at the first hint of stubble, they felt like “dudes.” It was really simple and funny, we thought. To be honest, the 3 of us could really relate to these real-life moments and they made us laugh. Not everyone appreciated our sense of humor. We know that women define femininity in different ways. Veet helps those who choose to stay smooth. Our intention was never, ever, to offend anyone, so we decided to rethink our campaign and remove those clips. Thank you for letting us know how you feel.